"SLOGGER"

Well ladies and gentleman I have officially given myself the title of the slacker blogger aka "Slogger" Here I am...Since Spencer left for Basic Training mid April my life has become full time mom...wait, I've always been a full time mom. Now I'm an EXTRA full time mom! For those of you who don't know, Spencer has joined the Army National Guard as a chaplains assistant. He is currently in Fort Knox, Kentucky doing some hardcore training. Trust me when I say hardcore. The stories I have read sound just like the movies.
Lets see...a brief overview. He sleeps with his rifle which has to be named. He has named his "Angelita de Guerra" little angel of war. Dessert, aka "fatty cakes" are always in the mess hall, but they're not allowed to eat them unless they want the whole platoon to do extra physical training. He uses the word Drill Sergeant so much that it slips into his prayers at night. He only sleeps from 10pm to 4am and that's if he doesn't have an hour of "fire guard" to wake up for and patrol. They have to unmask in a gas chamber where afterward the majority of them puke. They have had a rifle cleaning competition where the winner gets 10 minutes of phone time...Spencer came in second. Sleeping on top of your covers is against the rules, resulting the whole platoon being woken being up at 1 am and lectured for 10 minutes on following rules. They take 240 guys, line them up in a rectangle shape in a huge training pavilion and order them to take a nap.
These are a only a few of the strange stories that Spencer has written me about. He also has had very positive experiences along the way. There is a guy in his platoon that is also LDS, he said that things are only hard while he's doing them and that he's always glad that he does them. He's never wanted to quit more than any other time in his life, but never wanted to finish something and accomplish it so bad at the same time. Truly he's doing great! As of date I have only spoken to him once on the phone, its been 3 weeks. I hope to hear from him soon.
For the kids and I, we are blessed to have family so close. My mom is great at helping me with the kids when I work 2 days a week and Spencers mom is always willing to watch them so I can have a break and run some errands on my own or take time for myself. Plus we have Spencer's brother Ben and his wife Megan who moved here about a month ago and its great to be able to spend time with them. We are greatly blessed and taken care of. I get to fly out somewhere around June 25 to see Spencer at graduation after which he will head to his AIG (advanced individual training) for 6 more weeks in either North or South Carolina. Contact with him will be tons better. He will be able to have his cell phone there and weekends off. Its more of a school all day type setting.
I hope this keeps most of you up to date with our family. We love you and miss those who are not here with us. Hope you enjoy some updated pictures.


Sophia demonstrating her "can I Please have some more fruit snacks" look

Sophia getting a picture from daddy in the mail. She was SO excited!

This is the cute little guy I get to see tugging at me while I'm at the table. This is his new hair cut...just like dads.

Cash has been crawling for about a month and a half now, he's all over the place!

Easter a few days before dad left